Process for the production of alloys containing beryllium



' I Patented July 29,1941

' UNITED smss PATENT orrics v PROCESS FOR THE PRODUUI'IOlV F ALLOYS CONTAINING BEBYLLIUH Helmut von Zeppelin, Bitterfeld, Germany, as-

slgnor, by mesne assignments, to Walther ll. Duisberg, New York, N. Y.

I No Drawing. Application August 9, 1939, Serial N0. 289,177. 11! Germany AW 26, 1937 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a process for the production of alloys containing beryllium.

Beryllium is generally alloyedwith other metals by adding it in metallic form to the molten base metal whilst maintaining the melt at atemperature sufliciently high to cause dissolution of the beryllium in the base metal, and preferably whilst stirring.

It has however been observed that metallic beryllium and especially beryllium which has been obtained in the form of flakes or the like by the thermal reduction of beryllium com pounds, alloys only with difficulty. It has now been ascertained that this difllculty is due to. the

, fact that it is impossible to avoid superficial oxidation of the metallic beryllium, especially in separating. it from the non-metallic reaction products by lixiviation, prior to employing said beryllium for alloying purposes, the coating of oxide formed on-the flakes of metallic beryllium,

preventing dissolution of the beryllium by the base metal.

The present invention aims at obviating the foregoing difilculty by omitting the step of sepaberyllium compound with the aid of a reducing.

metal, is combined with the base metal to be alloyed with the beryllium in the molten state. The reducing metal employed. for producing the said mixture is preferablyan alkali or alkaline earth metal (including magnesium) and the ,re-;

ducible beryllium compound is preferably'represented by a beryllium halide, especially beryllium chloride. The mixture containing beryllium in the metallic state may also contain other saline compounds, which, in a manner lrnow'n per se, may be added in the production of the said mixture in order to damp the. reaction and/or to lower the melting point of the nonmetallic reaction residues.

still molten and base metal.

If the reacted mixture, preferably produced by one of the processes described in U. S. Patent No. 2,171,439. and consisting of coarsely crystalline flakes of beryllium in a magnesium chloride melt,

be poured on to the molten base metal, for example copper,-heated to slightly above its melting point, the beryllium alloys with the copper forthwith- The specifically lighter magnesium chloride melt floats on the metal bath during the alloying operation and in this way prevents ac-- cess of air to the alloy. In consequence of the thin consistency and the low specific gravity of the magnesium chloride melt, the further advantage is obtained that the specifically heavier beryllium flakes rapidly sink. down through the saline melt andthusalloy with the molten base 1 metal bath immediately after the reacted melt is pouredon to the latter.-

According to still a further method of carrying out the invention, the base metal in the form of tumings or the like can be stirredinto the stillmolten reacted mixture containing the metallic beryllium in suspension and the melt then heated up to the requisite temperature for the formation of the alloy.

The small amounts of beryllium remaining in v the reacted mixture (partly in the form of oxide) In carrying out the invention there is added to I the base' metal with which beryllium is to be alloyed a mixture obtained by reducing a reduci-v ble beryllium compound such as beryllium chloing metal, which mixture will hereinafter shortly be referred to as reacted mixture.

Said reacted mixture preferably is used while on completion of one of, the aforementioned alloying operations can be recovered by pouring off ing the undissolved beryllium-containing residues into beryllium chloride by chlorination.

Example 600 parts by weight of copper, to which 3 parts by weight of magnesium had been added for deoxidation, were melted down, undera thin covering of magnesium chloride. weight of a reacted mixture, produced by the reaction of beryllium chloride with magnesium and containing 25.5 parts by weight of metallic beryl lium. were introduced into the melt, whilst occasionally stirring. The resulting copper-beryllium alloy, consisting of 618 parts by weight, contained 3.46%=21.2 parts by weight of beryllium while 2.8 parts by weight of beryllium remained in the saline melt. 83% of the introduced' beryllium thus alloyed with the copper,

while about 11% remained in the saline melt,

from which it was recovered and worked up into beryllium chloride.

merely poured on to the molten 204.5 parts by.,

2 i i Licences due, obtained by reaction of a beryllium halide compound with a reducing metal, is poured on to the molten base metal of the alloy to be produced;

2. A process for the production of beryllium containing alloys, in which a suspensionof beryllium metal in a fused non-metallic reaction residue, obtained by reaction of beryllium chloride with magnesium is poured on to the molten base metal of the alloy to be produced.

HELMUT VON ZEPPELIN. 

